I am a big fan of Dr Karl Kruszelnicki, a science commentator, who regularly co-hosts a science talk-back show on youth radio station, Triple J. I often listen to the show when I am driving around town between clients and became excited when I finally knew the answer to a listener’s question! The question came from a mum who has a child on the autism spectrum. Her child had been prescribed a “sensory diet” by an occupational therapist to help her child “regulate their emotions” and focus on tasks. She wanted to know, what is sensory processing, and how does sensory input impact on function? What is Sensory Processing? We all know about the 5 main senses – touch, smell, vision, taste, and hearing, but what most of us don’t know is there are actually lots of different senses like pain, temperature, movement (vestibular), and body-awareness (proprioception). We are constantly interacting with the world through our senses and the type of sensory input we receive can have a significant effe...